Comment: don't use ? and $. Pick one.

If there's a justification for using both $ and ? to represent 
variables, I haven't found it yet. I haven't finished reading the spec 
yet, so I could be missing it; but just looking at the BNF, I don't 
think there's any significant difference.

If this is true, then I strongly urge the working group to pick one. 
personally I prefer the dollar sign. It's not a reserved character in 
URLs and it's already used to indicate variables in other languages such 
as PHP. However this isn't a strong preference. I could certainly live 
with a question mark.

However I feel having too makes the language pointlessly complex, much 
harder to read, and harder to learn. It increases the size of the spec, 
increases the size and complexity of the grammar, and reserves an extra 
character that must now be avoided. Please pick one or the other. Flip a 
coin if you have to, but please don't use both.

Please treat this as an official last call comment and file a resolution 
in disposition of last call comments. Thank you.

-- 
Elliotte Rusty Harold  elharo@metalab.unc.edu
XML in a Nutshell 3rd Edition Just Published!
http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/xian3/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0596007647/cafeaulaitA/ref=nosim

Received on Sunday, 5 March 2006 23:57:01 UTC